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Up to 10% of users of personal MP3 or CD players may suffer permanent hearing loss because their music is too loud, a European study says.

The scientists say those people who listen at high volumes for as little as an hour a day across five years risk doing severe harm to their hearing.

The study by the European Union's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks says between five and 10% of listeners, equating to 2.5 to 10 million people in Europe, could be at risk.

It estimates between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.

If they listen for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels, they would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, the report says.

But if they listen for longer periods, they risk permanent hearing loss after five years.

The committee says the largest group at risk from "leisure noise" is young people.

It estimates that since the early 1980s the number of young people with social noise exposure has tripled to around 19%.

Across the same period occupational noise had decreased, the study says.

Teenagers need protection

This view is supported by a study last year by the British Royal National Institute for Deaf People fthat ound more than half of young people who use MP3 players listen for longer than five hours a week and at levels near 85 decibels.

The scientists' report attacks the concept of "leisure noise", saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels.

Loud mobile phones are also criticised.

"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality," the report says.

"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time."

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.

The report estimates unit sales in the EU of between 184 and 246 million for all portable audio devices just over the past four years, of which MP3 players range between 124 and 165 million.

Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva, the EU's consumer affairs commissioner.

"I am concerned that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably," she says.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, will now look into whether technical improvements could minimise hearing damage and consider changes to safety standards to protect youngsters.